Scott Showalter, ’73, serves as the chairman of the Ferrum College Board of Trustees. As he and his classmates prepare to celebrate their 50th “Golden Panther” Reunion on October 21, he shared his reflections on how the opportunity Ferrum gave him shaped his future approach as an educator and volunteer. “My story is probably no different than a lot of stories. I underachieved in high school and didn’t start applying myself until my senior year. So, I was looking for a place that would accept me and my guidance counselor recommended Ferrum,” Showalter said.
Originally from Harrisonburg, Virginia and a first generation college student, he says once he arrived at Ferrum College, he recognized the potential for personal growth and professional development and made the most out of the opportunities presented to him academically and as a student leader.
Showalter led the efforts to open the dorms to coed visitors on the weekends with his friend, the late Pete Coley. “We were Open Dorm coordinators – this is something nobody has any idea what that is,” he laughed. “The dorms were closed to visitors of the opposite sex. We went to the dean of students, and he said if we could manage the situation, we could have weekend visitation in the dorms. There were rules – you had to have your door open, there was no alcohol, and so on. On the Saturday nights, Pete and I would literally walk through the dorm policing the policy. That was the only time you would have coed visitors on your floor,” Showalter explains.
The empathy for fellow students needing time for coed visitors may have been inspired by Showalter meeting his future wife his first weekend at Ferrum. “The first Friday or Saturday, there was a dance in Swartz Gym. It was a meet-and-greet to help us meet people. I met my wife that weekend; we got engaged in sophomore year, and married at the end of my junior year when I was in Richmond. We’ve been together for 52 years.”
Showalter shares how he asked his wife to dance. “It is a classic story my wife likes to tell,” he laughs. “She was sitting up on the stands with her girlfriends, and I went up to her wearing my neon orange pants and white belt – It was the 70s, okay! I asked her to dance, and she looked at me and said “what?” She couldn’t hear me because the music was playing too loud. And I said “you’re sitting there, it’s a dance, and I asked you a question. What do you think I was asking?” That’s how we met, and we’ve been together ever since. That would have been ‘71, so we’ve known each other 52 years and our next year’s wedding anniversary is our 50th. We have a lot of funny stories about things that happened when we were bat Ferrum.”
Showalter explains how the young couple liked being in Ferrum because they shared a love of the outdoors and sports. “Like many others, we enjoyed the winters. We would sled off the hills on trays out of the dining hall. My roommate, Tom Patterson, was on the basketball team, so we went to all of the games and football and tennis matches. Even today, my wife and I are sports people; we go to all of the NC State games and Hurricanes games here in Raleigh. I also studied a lot – that was part of my turnaround act that began my senior year of high school,” he says.
Initially, Showalter wanted to be a forest ranger. He was an Eagle Scout, and during the summers, he worked at Boy Scout camp. “I love the outdoors, and I thought that’s exactly what I was going to do,” Showalter shared.
In 1971 when Showalter arrived at Ferrum, it was home to one of the first Environmental Science programs in the country and his dream of a profession in the outdoors put him in many science classes with program founder Dr. Joe Stogner. “Let’s put this in perspective – I went to the first Earth Day, and Dr. Stogner was one of my favorite faculty members. We started the Ferrum Science Forum to address some things around campus we thought could improve the environment.”
However, after reading an article about career paths, Showalter changed his major to Accounting in his sophomore year. “I read an article that said you had to, at a minimum, get a master’s degree, maybe even a PhD, to have a good career in Environmental Science. I decided to change my major sophomore year to Accounting, and I really took off as a student after that.”
“I had 21 credit hours. I can’t imagine today even thinking about taking 21 hours, but to me at the time, once you got past a certain point with tuition, you didn’t pay more, but you could take more, right? So, to me, that was just free. So, two of my 4 semesters, I took 21 hours and graduated in 1973 with an Associate of Applied Science in Accounting.”
After graduating from Ferrum, Showalter went on to the University of Richmond to earn a Bachelor of Arts and Science in Accounting alongside Pete Coley who became his roommate there. He carried with him lifelong friends who influenced his life and whose lives intersected with his many years later as well as the influence of faculty members he seeks to emulate in his own academic advising. “There are so many seeds that were planted when I was at Ferrum that didn’t necessarily bloom when I was there, but as I went through life, they made a difference. I would say a lot of what I do and how I teach is based on Ferrum. There wasn’t a faculty member there that I couldn’t approach and talk to whatever the issue was,” Showalter said.
Today, Showalter serves as Chairman of our Board of Trustees and shares a desire to give back and pay forward the opportunity he was given drives his commitment to serving the College. “I think my story is really no different than a lot of people’s, particularly the people that pass through junior colleges. Ferrum changed my life and at my age now, it’s about finding what you can do to give back. What you can pay forward is really what your life is all about.”
“I do a lot of volunteer work, including with the Boy Scouts, and I teach. I think you get to a point in your life when you realize you’ve benefited from a lot of other people, and it’s only appropriate to pay that back whichever way you wish. I believe higher education is transformable, and I think that’s what Ferrum is into – transforming lives, giving people opportunities they wouldn’t have otherwise. It’s answering a calling that is pretty unique with the students we seek out and give an opportunity. That’s why I do what I do with the College, and I don’t think it’s a whole lot different than other trustees to the board. Most of the board members could do a lot of other different things, but we accepted our positions on the Board because we are very passionate about the mission and vision for Ferrum because we know first-hand the impact it had on us. We just want to see that continue,” Showalter concludes.
Showalter encourages all alumni, especially the Class of 1973, to attend Homecoming Weekend on October 20-22 and celebrate their 50th Reunion at the Golden Panther Induction Celebration. Details can be found here.
